Le contenu est le point de contact à la mode pour de plus en plus de spécialistes du marketing : aujourd'hui, au Royaume-Uni, près de 85 % des professionnels du secteur utilisent le marketing de contenu et près des deux tiers d'entre eux prévoient d'augmenter leurs dépenses en la matière cette année.

1. BRANDED
CONTENT
EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES OR
THE FUTURE OF MARKETING?
Thought Piece
2016

2. BRANDED CONTENT –
HOW TO ENGAGE AND
INFLUENCE PEOPLE
IN THE CONNECTED
WORLD
Content is the touchpoint du jour for more
and more marketers – around 85 % of
marketing professionals in the UK now use
content marketing with around two thirds
planning to increase spending this year1
.
There is however, still some confusion
surrounding the nebulous definition of
content and where it fits in to a media mix.

3. Often, attempts at interpreting branded content
straddle the wire of native advertising and advertorials
before falling in to the abyss of general advertising
– so what is it exactly and what does it offer that
traditional channels do not already deliver?
One working definition (through Ipsos’ partnership
with Oxford Brookes University and The Branded
Content Marketing Association) is:
“Branded Content is content fully or partly funded
by a Brand which promotes the Brand’s values and
provides something of value to audiences – often
by entertaining, informing and/or educating”
Now while this definitely goes a long way to defining
what it is, there are two inherent foundations which
require amplification:
1. It’s experienced: there’s a tendency to be
Facebook/YouTube/Twitter myopic, but branded
content doesn’t necessarily need to be clicked or
viewed – as evidenced by popular Red Bull events.
Even The Lego Movie counts as branded content!
2. It’s something people choose to spend time with:
Branded Content at its best is unlike traditional
advertising. Whilst conventional advertising is,
in essence, an interrupter designed to snatch
attention from something else; content is creativity
enjoyed at an individual’s discretion. Crucially, the
consumer is in control – not the brand.

4. JAN 2010 JAN 2011 JAN 2012 JAN 2013 JAN 2014 JAN 2015
21m
30m
39m
54m
121m
181m
Unfortunately, in the same way that reach does not
necessarily equal actual branded recognition and
number of click-throughs does not always tally with
campaign success – understanding how branded
content works is tricky. We all have examples of good
content, but this tends to be limited to true zeitgeist
material (think ‘Always’, ‘Nike’ or the ALS Ice Bucket
challenge). In other words, it’s probably gone ‘viral’, been
viewed and shared over a million times or the IPA have
flagged it as laudable work. But does this tell the whole
story? How do people really engage with content in the
real world? Do people respond to content as anything
other than highfalutin advertising? And though we know
what qualifies as successful content, what does content
need to do for it to be successful?
ADVERTISING IS DEAD; LONG LIVE ADVERTISING!
News flash – most people cannot discriminate between
branded content and advertising! Not a massive surprise
given struggles within the industry to correctly categorise
it but throughout our research, it was clear that the
concept was alien to most. Indeed, early qualitative work
showed that even after a week of exposure to branded
content, content was still referred to as ‘ads’ and attempts
to give examples often strayed into sponsorship,
endorsements and other malapropisms.
GLOBAL MONTHLY ACTIVE AD BLOCKING
SOFTWARE USERS (DESKTOP)
Source:PageFairAdobe,2015Adblockingreport

5. 250 TRPs 500 TRPs 750 TRPs 1,000 TRPs
-5
-11 -11
-13
This doesn’t make content marketing the media
equivalent of ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ though. In
many ways, the challenges are similar to those of
conventional advertising. Like advertising, the main
goal is to have a positive impact on the brand.
Romantic as it is to imagine companies acting as
philanthropic raconteurs bringing joy to the world –
there’s always a motive. Also like advertising, you’re
competing with the real world. Despite what some
marketers would like to believe, most people do not
go on ‘content hunts’, trawling the internet for branded
material. We all cultivate our own media-consuming
microcosms characterised by habit and autonomy
– whether it be a surreptitious scan of Facebook at
lunch or a YouTube bender consisting of Thug Life
videos and compilations of overweight animals failing
in elaborate scenarios. The implication is that branded
content needs to interrupt to get noticed but it cannot
disrupt – discovery must be as organic as discovering
pure content. Therefore to achieve cut through at
scale, Branded Content needs to be found in relevant
places and creatively sign posted to draw people in.
In general, cutting through is getting tougher.
Advertising is by no means dead, but as with
the advent of online and the encroachment of
% CHANGE IN
AVERAGE BRANDED
TV AD RECOGNITION
2009-2014 (UK)
Source:Ipsostrackingdata(TRP:TelevisionRatingPoint)

6. programmatic – adaption and evolution are very
real. Whether it be the impact of multi-screening or
increasing use of ad-blocking software, it’s not as easy
to get noticed.
And herein lies the appeal of content marketing –
having your assets shared and sought-after rather
than filtered and/or thwarted. The gravitation toward
“emotional advertising” isn’t just a trend towards twee,
affected communications; it’s intended to build an
affinity between brand and consumer. It’s certainly
one way of appealing to people but you don’t
need to tug at heart strings to connect with people.
Creating genuinely engaging content that really
resonates with people – either through emotion,
information or entertainment – is the key.
So attention is vital, but likeability is a prerequisite to
engagement – and even more so for content. You do
not always have to like advertising to be influenced
by it but we generally consume content because
we get something in return. Branded content has to
appeal like content but have the effect of advertising
– a daunting but not impregnable challenge.
Of course, salience is probably the biggest concern
for content. As if being likeable and resonant wasn’t
difficult enough, we also need to consider the desired
CONTENT
People will only choose
programmes, movies, articles
etc that they have an interest
in/like
ADVERTISING
While beneficial for long
term brand building, people
don’t necessarily need to like
advertising for it to have the
desired brand impact
BRANDED CONTENT
People must see something
they like to choose to spend
time with it and for it to have
a brand impact

7. consumer. We are an increasingly impatient audience
where the first 5 seconds can make or break our
attention and battling impassivity is even harder when
people have the autonomy of choice. The growing
predilection for content marketing means that
it’s very difficult for any one item to achieve
‘shareability status’. Add to this, nascent
platforms (for which good levels of
organic reach were once possible) are
now established business models with
‘business brains’ who increasingly monetise
this reach. In short, shareable content not only
needs ‘shareability’, it needs a competitive budget.
Justifying this expense will become a larger issue in
time but in truth, content is unlikely to be a marketers’
heaviest touchpoint. Creating a TV spot that stands out
in the clutter and delivers on all a brand’s multiple media
manifestos is tough enough; competing with amusing
clips of adorable toddlers, FAIL compilations, and other
(much more debauched) searches is even trickier.
The objective is to work out where branded
content fits in to a media strategy – is the
aim to supplement a wider campaign
by supporting the brand’s motives or
to appeal to a target you struggle to
communicate with through your standard
channels. In short – is the content designed to
inspire reaffirmation or reappraisal?
Our quantitative research presented participants with
3 examples of branded content in a mocked up in-situ
environment (YouTube for video and Facebook for
pictorial stimuli). For video, it was important that we
allowed people to skip if they wanted to – after all, it’s
rare that people are tied down and forcefully exposed
to content in the real world. Of the tested materials,
we found that almost all of skips came as soon as the
option became available. Perhaps this is a Pavlovian
impulse; an automatic reflex from impatient internet
patrons, savvy to the game. What became clear was
that positive response didn’t necessarily correlate
with watching a video in its entirety – less than half of
OUR PROPRIETARY RESEARCH INDICATES
THAT PEOPLE GENERALLY USE JUST
18 APPS AND 15 WEBSITES
EACH MONTH
FORRESTER RESEARCH HAS
THEN FOUND THAT
SMARTPHONE OWNERS SPENT:
80% OF
(IN APP) TIME ON
JUST 5 APPS
NO SUCH
THING AS A
FREE LUNCH
OR ORGANIC
REACH
WHAT DOES SUCCESSFUL CONTENT NEED
TO DO TO BE SUCCESSFUL?

8. Content
Platform Brand
People
THE FRAMEWORK FOR
SUCCESSFUL BRANDED CONTENT
IS RESONANCE FOR PEOPLE
WITH THE...
participants viewed Lexus Hoverboard and Always
‘Like a Girl’ to the end yet they performed best overall.
Snacking is common with content – we choose to
watch a 10 minute compilation but we might skip
a vignette that lasts too long. We might not read
an entire magazine, but there might be sufficient
appealing articles that ensure you buy next month’s
issue. An entertaining YouTube channel might
deliver an underwhelming entry but it need not be
a relationship-breaker. What matters is satiation –
have we got what we need from it? To use Ipsos
parlance, has it met my needs? Clearly, a skip doesn’t
necessarily suggest disinterest – it’s just a reminder of
a content-consumer’s sovereign right.
This is why choosing to spend time with content
becomes so important; the power is entirely with
the consumer. They can dismiss or embrace what
they experience and they’re often in an environment
characterised by caprice (vines, anyone?). It really
comes down to relevance – is the content relevant
(i.e. is it informative, entertaining, inspiring?); is the
content relevant to the platform (NSFW material might
not be sharable on Facebook for fear of offending
Auntie Agnes and your manager at work but it might
be okay via Snapchat) and is it relevant to the brand
(in other words, does the brand have permission to
produce content in a certain manner). Crucially, this is
The more integrated they are
within the overall business and
brand strategy the more beneficial
and productive it will be for everyone
involved. As a result it will be much
easier to implement and combine
the efforts for a common goal
across our brands and business.
Alper Eroglu, Global Media Director
Deodorants and Oral Care Categories, Unilever

9. all within the individual’s preference bubble – it makes
sense that football memes should appeal to football
fans, but it’s the interaction between these features
that inevitably decides success.
For example, recent research shows that Facebook
(37%) is considered the most popular, or
‘coolest’ social network amongst all UK
internet users, but is considerably lower
amongst teenagers aged 16 to 19 (14%),
who rate YouTube (20%) and Instagram
(16%) higher2
. Not only does this reflect the
importance of the platform when deciding
the vessel for your content, it also illustrates the
transience and capriciousness of social outlets.
It’s not enough to set up a channel on YouTube
and expect results, in the same way that you can’t
shoehorn a celeb in to an ad campaign and expect
success. It all needs to fit. Because although you might
be aiming for Generation Z appreciation and brand
re-appraisal, you still need the content to appeal to
them (preferably in the right context and executed in
a way that isn’t too contrived).
WHAT DOES THE BRAND GET FROM IT?
Branded Content has the potential to have
a strong impact on brand. We found
that positive response to the content
had a strong influence on enhanced
perceptions of the associated brand.
For example, the Always ‘Like a Girl’
video had a profound effect on brand
perceptions amongst their target group. Almost
all brand perceptions (ranging from ‘is an inspirational
brand’ to ‘is distinctive from other brands’) saw
significant improvements based solely on exposure to
the content. In fact, this was true regardless of gender
– proof that a universally appealing message and
elegant execution can transcend any barrier (including
FACEBOOK
14%
COOLEST SOCIAL NETWORK
ALL UK USERS
FACEBOOK
37%
YOUTUBE
20%
INSTAGRAM
16%
AMONGST 16-19 YEAR OLDS
POWER TO THE
CONSUMER

10. intent to buy!). Always is a strong brand to begin
with; the content acted very much as re-affirmation,
strengthening brand affinity.
On the other hand, the Lexus hover-board did
a terrific job in provoking re-appraisal from a
traditionally indifferent and unfamiliar audience.
Amongst younger participants, over half found
the film unexpected for Lexus, but it was almost
universally liked. Against a demographically
consistent control cell, there were positive shifts on
various measures including perceived popularity
and modernity as well as personal relevance and
‘is a brand to aspire to’. In the UK Lexus face stiff
competition from brands such as Audi, Mercedes and
BMW in terms of spending power so the ability to
successfully leverage distinct channels is a real asset.
Adapt to your customer’s
needs. They expect it.
Scott Abel, Content Strategist
Particularly when those engaged with the relevant
platforms are those who will one day have the
disposable income to seriously consider a Lexus.
The innate ‘shareability’ of engaging content means
ROI can extend beyond opportunity to see, click-
through and Facebook friends but with the rise of
more ‘paid for’ content, it will become more difficult.
The key is keeping the content relevant.
Shareability shouldn’t be overestimated though; Ipsos
research shows that only 6% in the UK claim to have
shared content in the last year and even then, the
channels for sharing are tangled. Few would argue
with retweeting #unstoppable or posting an Always
video to Facebook but polarising material from Paddy
Power might be best kept to more private channels
such as WhatsApp.
In the UK only
6% share content

11. IN SUMMARY
So remember these three things:
• Make it interesting, useful or memorable
or go home
• Don’t stray too far from your brand path
or you’ll get punished
• Make the most of what the platform offers;
push the boundaries or get lost
The common denominator though, is people. As US
content strategist Scott Abel notes – “Adapt to your
customer’s needs. They expect it”. This has never
been truer and success for the brand depends on it.
SOURCES:
1 https://contently.com/strategist/2015/10/07/state-of-
content-marketing-united-kingdom/
2 https://www.globalwebindex.net/blog/youtube-is-the-
coolest-social-platform-for-teens
Eleanor Thornton-Firkin
eleanor.thornton-firkin@ipsos.com
+44 (0)7795 334910
Liam Fox-Flynn
Liam.Fox-Flynn@ipsos.com
+44 (0)203 059 5516
FOR MORE INFORMATION,
PLEASE CONTACT:
Eleanor heads up our Content
and Creative development
offer. She is particularly
interested in recent advances
in our understanding of how
the brain works and our ability
to bring this knowledge to
bear on developing great
communications.
Liam joined Ipsos several
years ago as part of the
graduate programme. He has
a wealth of early stage and
tracking experience utilising
different collection methods.
He also has an unhealthy
obsession with Thug Life
videos.
HEAD OF CONTENT
CREATIVE
DEVELOPMENT
RESEARCH
MANAGER

12. ABOUT IPSOS CONNECT
Ipsos Connect are experts in brand, media, content and communications research. We help
brands and media owners to reach and engage audiences in today’s hyper-competitive
media environment.
Our services include:
• Brand Campaign Performance: Evaluation and optimisation of in-market activities
to drive communications effectiveness and brand growth.
• Content and Communications Development: Communications, content and creative
development from early stage idea development through to quantitative pre-testing
alongside media touchpoint planning.
• Media Measurement: Audience measurement and understanding.
Ipsos Connect are specialists in people-based insight, employing qualitative and quantitative
techniques including surveys, neuro, observation, social media and other data sources. Our
philosophy and framework centre on building successful businesses through understanding
brands, media, content and communications at the point of impact with people.